June 19, 2007

CSF Housing Authority ends project talks
Differences with the developer at Rosecrans and Euclid led to the decision.
By BARBARA GIASONE
The Orange County Register

FULLERTON Cal State Fullerton Housing Authority has ended talks with a Los Angeles developer to purchase some of the 375 condominium units proposed for the corner of Rosecrans Avenue and Euclid Street.

The housing would have been used for university faculty.

"We had many differences with the developer," Housing Authority Executive Director Bill Dickerson said Monday.

The project would have augmented the university's plan to hire 100 faculty members per year for the next five years.

Dickerson said The Olson Company closed escrow last week on a former industrial site at 1600 W. Commonwealth Ave. that had been approved for workforce housing. The CSF authority agreed to form a consortium with the city's largest employers to purchase all 68 proposed units.

Engineers are trying to determine if the historic Kohlenberger building on the property, which was damaged by fire in May, is salvageable to incorporate in the project's façade.

"We're 99 percent sure everything will go forward," Dickerson said. "But some of the units' square footage was wrong. We certainly hope to retain the deal."

The non-profit Auxiliary Services Corporation that Dickerson formed is also moving forward to build 80 town homes and a parking structure for faculty housing on its property behind the "Hunt-Wesson" building near the southeast corner of Nutwood and Commonwealth avenues.

The Auxiliary bought the high-rise seven years ago.

Meanwhile, the Housing Authority's 42 workforce housing units on the former Elks property on Brea Boulevard should be ready for move-in during September, Dickerson said.